[Interview] Kang Kyunghoon, Chief Attorney of YK Law Firm, Leading the Seismic Shift in the Legal Industry

Achieving Over Sixfold Revenue Growth in Five Years Since Incorporation... Rising to Seventh-Largest Law Firm
Strength in the "One-Firm" System with 32 Branch Offices Nationwide and Main Office
Enhancing "Corporate Legal Services" Including Management Rights Disputes

Kang Kyunghoon, Chief Attorney at YK Law Firm, is being interviewed by Asia Economy on the 19th at the office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun

From last year to this year, the most notable law firm in the domestic legal industry has undoubtedly been YK Law Firm. Based on its 2023 revenue, YK entered the top 10 law firms for the first time last year, and in 2024, it recorded revenue of 154.77 billion KRW, nearly double that of the previous year, rapidly rising to become the seventh-largest law firm.

We met with Kang Kyunghoon, Chief Attorney of YK, who has led the firm to its current position just five years after its incorporation in 2020, to discuss the driving force behind this rapid growth and future plans. He cited YK’s unique One-Firm system, which includes 32 branch offices nationwide, and its “customer-centric” service as the most significant factors in YK’s growth.

The following is a Q&A with Chief Attorney Kang.

-What was the background that enabled YK to achieve such rapid growth in a short period?

▲YK started as “YK Law Office” in 2012 and, upon incorporation in 2020, began to actively organize and expand nationwide. When revenue stagnated during the COVID-19 pandemic, YK boldly invested about 25 billion KRW to increase the number of branch offices nationwide, despite concerns from those around us. The strategy of targeting clients who structurally had difficulty receiving support from top law firms proved to be highly effective. Revenue, which was 24.9 billion KRW at the time, increased to 154.77 billion KRW last year. Achieving more than six-fold revenue growth in five years was the result of a combination of a strategic business model and rapid, field-oriented execution.

-What is YK’s unique strategic business model?

▲The domestic legal market is structured so that the top six law firms maintain long-term advisory relationships with major conglomerates. As a result, small and medium-sized enterprises or companies in relatively weaker positions face constraints in accessing high-quality legal services due to conflicts of interest. YK targeted this blind spot in the market. We set our strategic goal to provide practical alternatives to clients that traditional law firms find difficult to serve, such as franchisees, platform users, minority shareholders, startups, and regional companies. Starting in the criminal-focused B2C market, we built a nationwide network of branch offices to gain client trust, and based on this, we quickly entered the corporate (B2B) legal market.

Kang Kyunghoon, Chief Attorney at YK Law Firm, is being interviewed by Asia Economy on the 19th at the office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yongjun

-YK is described as a “corporate law firm” rather than a “network law firm.” What is the difference between the two?

▲While network law firms simply share a name, YK is a corporate law firm with a centralized control system. All 32 branch offices nationwide are integrated and operated under the main office’s personnel, accounting, and case assignment systems, forming a One-Firm structure. We maintain a collaborative structure with all branch offices through weekly video conferences and monthly in-person meetings. As soon as a case is accepted, a specialist attorney from the main office is assigned and a team is formed. For example, in a major industrial accident case in Ulsan, the branch office handled the initial intake and on-site investigation, and immediately formed a collaborative team with the main office to provide real-time advisory and litigation strategy support. This allowed regional clients to receive prompt, main office-level professional services. The ability to provide fast and professional collaboration beyond accessibility is YK’s greatest strength. This is why YK can continue to expand while maintaining consistent quality of legal services.

-We have heard that you emphasize “customer-centricity.”

▲What YK means by “customer-centricity” can be summarized as “close-contact legal representation,” solving cases on-site alongside the client. Especially in criminal cases, our attorneys have consistently practiced a genuine approach by accompanying clients to investigations from the earliest stages, participating in on-site inspections, and personally persuading key witnesses. This close-contact representation began in the early days of YK, when we had no former high-ranking officials as attorneys and needed to earn client trust, and it remains an important part of YK’s culture today.

Kang Kyunghoon, chief attorney of law firm YK, posing in front of the company logo at the office in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 19th. Photo by Jo Yongjun

-What are your next goals?

▲Our future goal is not just external growth, but to provide differentiated “YK-style” services to corporate clients as well. We plan to further strengthen our system and infrastructure so that regional companies can receive services at the level of major law firms in Seoul’s Gangnam district, and we will secure more corporate legal specialists. We gained attention last year with a franchise fee refund lawsuit starting with Pizza Hut headquarters, and in 2025, we plan to expand our corporate legal services beyond fair trade to include virtual asset exchanges, startup investment contracts, minority shareholder rights protection, tax disputes, and legal advisory for defense industry companies. We are particularly focusing on the area of corporate management rights disputes.

-Why are you placing special emphasis on corporate legal services?

▲As the founder generation, who built their companies with strong leadership and entrepreneurial spirit, is replaced and ownership becomes dispersed, there is a recurring structural problem of excessive resources being spent on management rights defense. In this process, corporate value is intentionally suppressed or distorted, and the undervaluation of Korea’s capital market becomes entrenched. While most large law firms remain focused on advising established conglomerates, YK is building practical response capabilities for minority shareholders and stakeholders on the founder’s side, who are in relatively weaker positions. We are preparing to play a role not only in resolving disputes, but also in creating a healthy governance environment and a fair investment ecosystem, thereby contributing to the formation of a virtuous cycle in the capital market.

-What motivated you to become a lawyer, and what is your life motto?

▲During the IMF financial crisis, my father suffered great losses when his construction business failed. He had to handle legal matters alone with the National Tax Service and the prosecution, and watching that process up close made me deeply aware of the importance of legal assistance. The belief that everyone should be able to receive the protection of fair laws led me to choose a legal career. Even as a student at Seoul National University’s Department of Political Science and International Relations, I was very interested in social inequality and fairness, and this concern has continued since the founding of YK. Especially in the legal market, providing equal legal services to socially disadvantaged individuals and weaker companies that large law firms do not serve is both YK’s founding philosophy and my life motto. On a side note, I volunteered for the Marine Corps and then again for the Special Reconnaissance Unit. Training alongside physically strong peers taught me a lot, and gave me the confidence to endure whenever I face difficulties in life.